Paths to Peace: Contending Discourses on Communal Violence and Conflict in the Post-New Order Indonesia

Abstract

This paper discusses actual discourses that have shaped the ways in which violent communal conflicts have been understood, and how different practices of interventions have been applied to address the conflicts in the post-New Order Indonesia. The discourses have their own perspectives, practical interventions, and agencies. Against the backdrop of the competing discourses, this paper argues for more attention being paid to local ways of resolving communal conflict despite the accompanying debates on their effectiveness and efficiency.